Diversity Management

Introduction
Workplace diversity practices refer to efforts organizations engage in to provide an inclusive corporate culture that values differences and promotes opportunities for all employees.

Traditionally, diversity programs have focused mostly on race and gender and other physical dimensions. However, today¡¦s definition of diversity covers a broad spectrum of individual and group differences ranging from work styles and generational perspectives to political and religious preferences. The illustration below represents how diversity can be understood from a corporate/business point of view:

Under the umbrella of diversity practices, organizations are employing methods of understanding and relationship-building that encourage the voices of all employees to be heard and embraced. To gain a competitive advantage, organizations are learning that perspectives of diverse employee groups add value and creativity to organizations¡¦ strategic direction. The practice of embracing and leveraging differences for the benefit of the organization through the collaboration of cultures, ideas and experience is something most organizations strive to achieve in today¡¦s global marketplace.

The Importance of DiversityDiversity is even more relevant due to the interconnectivity of global markets. The world no longer operates in silos, nor do businesses. To remain competitive, organizations must understand the preferences and needs of their diverse customer base, which may include ethnic and cultural groups that go beyond simply race and gender. The intricacies of knowledge necessary to serve a wider market share require that organizational leadership rely upon a conglomeration of ideas.

Successful management of today¡¦s increasingly diverse workforce is among the most important global challenges faced by corporate leaders, human resource managers, and management consultants. Workforce diversity is not a transient phenomenon; it is today¡¦s reality, and it is here to stay. Homogeneous societies have become heterogeneous, and this trend is irreversible. The problems of managing today¡¦s diverse workforce, however, do not stem from the heterogeneity of the workforce itself but from the unfortunate inability of corporate managers to fully comprehend its dynamics, divest themselves of their personal prejudicial attitudes, and creatively unleash the potential embedded in a multicultural workforce.

The global economy moves diversity to the top of the agenda. Immigration, worker migration (guest workers), and gender and ethnic differences continue to dramatically change the composition of the workforce. There is a growing demand for equal rights for these workers and for other groups like older workers, workers with disabilities, and gays and lesbians. Even without globalization, population projections suggest that the trend to a diverse workforce will be amplified in the coming decades. For example, due to consistently low birthrates and increased longevity, virtually all the industrial countries will need even larger waves of immigrants just to sustain their current ratio of workers to retirees. At the same time, developing countries are experiencing an unprecedented growth in the numbers of young people. This combination of push and pull factors is moving all countries toward the same outcome: a more diverse workforce.

Possible Tensions Emerging from a Diverse WorkforceGlobal demographic trends create unprecedented workforce tensions. Global legislative trends banning discrimination against women, immigrants, minorities, and other diverse groups in the labor force have required employers in most democratic, and quite a few non-democratic countries, to institute policies that ensure fair treatment of all employees. Some countries have introduced public policies stemming from the ideology of compensating population groups that have been discriminated against in the past. Employers are required to provide designated groups...

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WORFORCE DIVERSITY
Eric Hernandez
National University
Introduction
“It’s hard to define what diversity is because everyone has an opinion.”
- Goldman Sachs diversity ad, 2000.
People are different, that’s a fact. We live in a diverse world, filled with people of different cultures, nationalities, backgrounds and sex. The purpose of this paper is just to give a brief explanation on the importance diversity in the workplace, its advantages and why companies need to embrace it rather than ignoring it. Diversity is a very broad concept, and is not meant to be confused with equality; therefore we need to define it first. Diversity includes acceptance, respect and understanding that every individual is unique and different. These differences can be in the dimension of race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical attributes and abilities, religious believes and/or other believes. Requires understanding each person and involving tolerance in embracing those differences within each individual. (Queensborough Community College, n.d) Ron Glover (Chief Diversity Officer IBM) said, “Innovation is about looking at complex problems and bringing new views to the table. Diversity has allowed IBM to be innovative and successful for 100 years and to work across lines of differences in 172 countries, amongst 427,000 employees.”...

...In today’s fast-paced work environment, a successful organization is one in which diversity is the norm, and not the exception. A primary concern for most businesses, workforce diversity is a complex phenomenon to manage in an organization. Its complexity is more readily understood when one considers that diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more. Despite its complexity, the successful business, be it corporate, governmental, or private, is the one that recognizes the importance of effectively managing workforce diversity given the makeup of today’s labor pool. In fact, as far back as 1987, the Hudson Institute published Workforce 2000, which predicted that minorities would increasingly constitute a larger percentage of the net new entrants into the workforce. The report also noted that the labor force participation of women would continue to rise and that the median age of workers would increase due to the aging baby boom generation (Jamieson & O’Mara, 1991). In essence, the American workforce was changing on a par with America's demographics. As such, the success of businesses would necessarily need to recognize the changing demographics of the workforce and institute practices to maximize management of this diverse workforce.
Generally speaking, the term “Workforce Diversity” refers to policies and...

...QUESTION 2: Identify some challenges that diversity at the workplace might bring.
ANSWER
There are challenges to managing a diverse work population. Managing diversity is more than simply acknowledging differences in people. It involves recognizing the value of differences, combating discrimination, and promoting inclusiveness. Managers may also be challenged with losses in personnel and work productivity due to prejudice and discrimination and complaints and legal actions against the organization (Devoe, 1999).
Some of the main challenges of diversity in the workplace include communication barriers, increased tension within the workforce, resistance to change, group cohesiveness and interpersonal conflict, lack of implementation of diversity in workplace policies and lack of efficient management of the diverse workforce.
Communication barriers lead to problems in a company attempting to create a diverse workplace. For example, when a U.S. company hires employees of other cultures whose first language is not English, employees and managers may experience difficulties communicating with one another. This can lead to misunderstandings and a decrease in productivity. Even if a manager gives instructions about completing a certain task to an employee who fails to fully comprehend the instructions, the employee may make mistakes if he tries to complete the task without receiving clarity. Ineffective...

...Thinking About Diversity and Inclusion
SOC/315
October 10, 2011
Michelle Curtain
Thinking About Diversity and Inclusion
What are the dimensions of cultural diversity? Identify and briefly explain the dimensions by referencing both textbooks.
Diversity can be defined as “the ways in which people differ that may affect their organizational experience in terms of performance, motivation, communication, and inclusion” (Harvey/Allard, 2009). These differences and similarities are broken-down into two dimensions. “Primary dimensions are considered to be more fixed, visible, and relevant to an individual’s identity. Secondary dimensions are considered to be more fluid, and less central to one’s social identity” (Harvey/Allard, 2009). Primary dimensions of cultural diversity can include age, mental/physical abilities, ethnic heritage, gender, sexual orientation, and race. Secondary dimensions of cultural diversity can comprise of one’s geographic location, family status, income, religion, and language among many other characteristics. Secondary dimensions are determined more by choice and are less visible.
Another dimension is indentifying people and placing them into minority groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. “A minority group is a subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their own lives than do the members of a dominant or...

...Increase in workforce diversity is a contemporary challenge for organizations
Introduction
Globalization has led to companies hiring employees from different countries, leading to more differences than similarities among members of the organisation (Asia-Pacific Business and Technology Report 2009). Champoux (2011: pp 28) describes workforce diversity is as ‘variations in workforce composition based on personal and background factors of employees’. Types of diversity among organization employees include age, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, education level, personality type, aptitude, and other demographic, socioeconomic and psychological characteristics. The above-mentioned type of diversities can be categorized into two main categories, which are surface level diversity and deep level diversity.
Levels of Diversity
Surface level diversity is essentially the ‘observable demographic and physiological difference in people’. (McShane et al. 2010:21). This would cover age, ethnicity, gender, race and physical disabilities, all of which are visible traits that differentiate each employee from the other. On the other hand deep level diversity would touch on the differences in people’s psychological characteristics. These would include individuals’ personality, beliefs, value, and attitude. Such traits would...

...Benefits Of Diversity in the workplace
• Categorized as Business,Miscellaneous
Benefits Of Diversity in the workplace
The acceptance of the term globalization all over the world has made the term ‘diversity’ quite prominent at workplaces. Apart from differences in race and gender, workplace diversity includes many other forms like age, ethnicity, physical attributes, educational background, sexual orientation, geographical location, income, marital status, parental status, spiritual practice, work experience, job classification and many more. An organization’s growth rate and success depend upon its ability to understand and manage diverse people in an efficient manner. When people with diverse backgrounds work as a team, the company progresses and grows at rapid rates. Apart from this ,there are numerous other benefits of diversity in a workplace. Some of these benefits include:
1. Increased adaptability
Organizations having a diverse workforce are better equipped in supplying a greater and better variety of solutions for problems in sourcing, service, and allocation of organizational resources. People from diverse background bring with them diverse experiences and talents in suggesting proposals that can easily be adapted to fluctuating market conditions and customer demands.
2. Increase the company’s range:
When the organization has a diverse set of skills, competencies and experiences such as...

...Workforce diversity:
Workforce diversity is the range of workers’ attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors that differ by gender, race, age, ethnicity, physical ability, and other relevant characteristics; many U.S. organizations are now creating more diverse workforces, embracing more women, ethnic minorities, and foreign-born employees than ever before. Theories and techniques of diversitymanagement have been developed and enthusiastically supported by a growing number of chief executives, training, specialists, diversity consultants and academics (Saji, 2004). Diversity can improve organizational effectiveness. Organizations that develop experience in and reputations for managing diversity will likely attract the best personnel (Carrel et al., 2000). Diversity requires a type of organizational culture in which each employee can pursue his or her career aspirations without being inhibited by gender, race, nationality, religion, or other factors that are irrelevant to performance (Bryan, 1999).
Types of diversity:
Gender: Men and women usually work better together as a mixed group (shah, 2004). They tend to bring different positive attributes and are able to bring the experiences and interests of both genders of consumers
Age: Age diversity can inject new blood into a business, whether by removing obstacles to promotion or...

...I. Introduction
As we enter the 21st century, workforce diversity has become an essential business concern. In the so-called information age, the greatest assets of most companies are now on two feet (or a set of wheels). Undeniably, there is a talent war raging. No company can afford to unnecessarily restrict its ability to attract and retain the very best employees available.
Generally speaking, the term “Workforce Diversity” refers to policies and practices that seek to include people within a workforce who are considered to be, in some way, different from those in the prevailing constituency.
The world's increasing globalization requires more interaction among people from diverse cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds than ever before. People no longer live and work in an insular marketplace; they are now part of a worldwide economy with competition coming from nearly every continent. Therefore, organizations need diversity to become more creative and open to changes in order to achieve organization efficiency and effectiveness. Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today.
II. Types of Diversity
a. Surface level diversity
are those differences that are easily noticeable such as age, gender, ethnicity/race, culture, language, disability, etc. Surface level diversity is easy to be measured...